132 
latter form is used on the accompanying 
map, as it seems the more plausible and 
the Portuguese names throughout the 
book are not always correctly rendered. 
Besides those relating to the discovery 
of the new river Colonel Roosevelt’s 
book permits various other deductions 
of geographical interest. The last rapids 
were encountered in about latitude 
7° 30’ S., just below the mouth of the 
upper Aripuanan. ‘This point is worthy 
of note, as the last rapids on the south- 
ern tributaries of the Amazon indicate 
the boundary between two of the major 
physiographic provinces of South Amer- 
ica, the Brazilian Highlands and the 
Amazon Lowlands. This boundary 
similar to the “fall line” between our 
own Atlantic coastal plain and_ the 
Appalachian piedmont region — lies in- 
creasingly farther upstream as _ one 
proceeds from east to west. Thus, on 
the Xingti it lies in 3° S.; on the Tocan- 
tins, in 4°; on the Tapajoz, in 43°; on 
the Maué-assti, in 5°; on the Canuma, 
probably in 6°; and on the Madeira, in 
82° S. Its location in 73° S. on the 
Rio Theodoro, between the Canumé and 
the Madeira, therefore indicates that the 
even outline of this natural boundary 
is not here interrupted. The last rapids 
are also of importance in marking the 
upper limit of steam navigation —a 
barrier which, in the case of the Ma- 
deira, has been overcome by the con- 
struction of a railroad (see map), 
opened in 1912, which connects with navi- 
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
gable waters on the Mamoré River above. 
The contrast between two other 
natural provinces was very noticeable 
to the members of the expedition. On 
the upland plateau of Matto Grosso, 
which separates the south- and south- 
west-flowing drainage of the upper 
Paraguay and the Guaporé from the 
north- and northeast-flowing drainage 
of the Madeira and Amazon tributaries, 
the prevailing type of vegetation is open 
grassland. To the north lies the jungle 
of the equatorial forest. The route of 
the expedition led from the one into the 
other north of Vilhena in about 123° S. 
The former is strikingly pictured in the 
illustration facing page 174, the latter 
in the illustrations facing pages 248 and 
262 of Colonel Roosevelt’s book. 
Many other references throughout the 
book are of geographic interest, such as 
those on the economic possibilities of the 
Matto Grosso plateau, on the Parecis 
and Nhambiquara Indians, and, in the 
appendices, the pertinent classification 
of travelers in South America and the 
comment on the paleogeography of the 
continent. But above and beyond all 
this is the record of human achievement. 
Hardships and dangers there were, even 
the stern realities of murder and death; 
but what are these to spirits kindred to 
that gallant band in the frozen South, 
over whose grave is so fittingly inscribed, 
in the words of the grand old rover of 
the days when the world was young, the 
eternal longing of the race? 
